Straw Into Gold
by Starlight Rose
Summary: Skip Beat retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. Kyoko and Kuon meet as children but are eventually separated. When they meet again as adults, no longer able to remember each other, Kyoko finds herself in the impossible situation of having to spin straw into gold.
1. Chapter 1

**Straw Into Gold**

Disclaimer: Don't own Skip Beat as much as I'd love to own Ren/Kuon.

* * *

Once upon a time...

There was a handsome, powerful, kind, intelligent..

_Enough they have the idea!_

...and charismatic fairy king and queen. The magical royal couple was respected and loved by all their subjects and allies. Even their enemies feared their power too much to act against them, so their kingdom was prosperous and peaceful. All the couple lacked was an heir to complete their happiness. But because the couple was so blessed not many years into their marriage the beautiful living jewel of a queen gave birth to a smart, humble, cute, masculine, warmhearted, athletic, beautiful...

_He was a baby...how could you tell he was any of those things other than maybe cute or beautiful yet?_

...baby boy. The kingdom was ecstatic and welcomed their new crown prince with celebrations and luxurious gifts. The prince grew quickly, but while he was a sweet and happy child as he grew his gentle smile gradually faded. Unknowingly the beautiful king and queen became the cause of their son's unhappiness. They were busy ruling their country and did not notice the oppression the prince fell under. They loved him from the bottom of their hearts and believed they were making him happy not knowing that being their son was causing his unhappiness. The young prince labored under the unrealistic expectations of the kingdom until he was no longer able to move...

* * *

"Such a disappointment..."

"He may be beautiful like his mother but he's so weak unlike his father."

"He can't even fly properly..."

"His parents are so powerful...how can their son be so weak?"

"The kingdom will be in trouble if someone like him inherits the throne."

The malicious whispers of the court beat around the flaxen-haired boy as he tried to ignore them and walk through the hallways after having again failed to meet the expectations of his tutors. He was never good enough. He never had enough control of his magic, he was never able to disarm his fencing instructors, and could not answer his political tutors fast enough.

Kuon Hizuri was not fit to be the son of the awe-inspiring King and Queen of the fairies, Kuu and Juliena Hizuri. His parents loved him, of that he had little doubt, but they were too busy to tend to him themselves so he was shuffled around to various tutors. Kuon tried hard to live up to the court's expectations of him, but no matter how hard he tried he always seemed to fail. He wanted his parents to be proud of him. He wanted to be worthy of being their only son. Because the fae were long-lived they tended to not reproduce often. Kuon was his parents' only child and the heir to the throne. The future of the kingdom rested on his shoulders and when he failed to perform the whispers and dark looks swept through the court.

His parents tried to reassure him that he was still young and the expectations that were put upon him were unrealistic. His father and mother had hundreds of years to grow into their power and skills and he was remarkably talented for being no more than ten-years-old. As much as Kuon wanted to believe his parents he knew they were perhaps too doting of him and he could not trust their words as being truth rather than just the words of overly-loving parents. He loved his parents but he knew their love of him could blind them to the truth. He was a disappointment.

Disappointment or not Kuon had enough pride to not let the vultures of the fairy court see how their words hurt him. He walked through the corridors with swift but determined strides with his head held high and his shoulders arrogantly thrown back. His challenging stance irked several older boys from the various noble families that were sick of all the attention the crown prince received due purely to his elevated station. They surreptitiously followed him as he left the castle with plans to ambush the boy.

Despite what he and the court thought of him and his abilities Kuon was talented, smart, observant, fast and strong for his age. His parents were correct that too much was expected from someone of his young age. Kuon noticed the group of boys following him and he knew exactly what they wanted with him. As soon as he got out of the palace he took off running, crossing meadows and into a set of woods, nimbly jumping over obstacles like tree roots and dodging around bushes and trees. He easily left his pursuers behind. Panting with exhaustion he looked around to see where he was and noticed he managed to find his way near one of the shifting borders between the fairy world and the human world. The hazy wavering air looked like seeing a landscape reflected upon water marked the border just as well as the tingling of the magic in the atmosphere.

Looking up to mark the position of the sun Kuon noticed that it was still only mid-morning, there was still plenty of time before dusk when the border between the two realms would close. Kuon knew that if he missed his lessons he would be scolded for it but he was tired of the stifling atmosphere of the court and the thought of crossing over to explore the human world a bit appealed to the young prince. With a grin of excitement me concentrated on stepping over the border. It was harder than he expected to walk past the enchantments that kept people from accidentally wandering between the two worlds too easily. It felt like he was walking through a thick viscous mud but once he managed to push through he found himself in a set of woods similar to the ones he just left but the thrum of magic that was constantly in the air of fairy was conspicuously absent.

He wandered aimlessly through the woods for a while enjoying the silence of the woods that was only ever interrupted by the occasional call of a bird or the rustling of some small creature making its way through the underbrush. After about an hour Kuon found himself in a pretty sunlit clearing. A clear stream ran through the middle of it and smooth white rocks lined either side of it. The stream appeared to be fairly shallow. Grinning to himself he rushed to the water and stripped down to his undergarments and wadded into the water. It was refreshing and cool and he found it came up to about the middle of his chest at its deepest. He allowed himself to swim around in it for a while until he got tired of the activity. He found a large flat rock in the middle of the stream and laid on it, blissfully closing his eyes and enjoying the silence.

The young fairy prince drifted off to sleep laying on the rock. It was a while later that he heard some loud thrashing and noises that sounded like a child crying coming from the bushes towards one side of the clearing. Quickly finding his clothes and putting them on, he proceeded to cautiously walk towards the noises. He finally saw her crouched in the shadow of a large oak tree. It was a little black haired girl, no more than five or six years old, curled upon herself and crying like her world was ending. Her clothes were slightly dirty presumably from running through the woods.

Being a kindhearted boy Kuon could not stand to see the child crying so painfully and do nothing. He walked closer to her and frowned when he noticed dark bruises scattered along pale skin of the girl's arms. Those bruises looked like they weren't from bumping into things or from any innocuous accidents but rather from an adult hand gripping that tiny arm too tightly and violently. He called out to the child, "What's wrong little one?"

Startled by the voice addressing her, the girl's head jerked up and Kuon's green eyes met large, innocent, startlingly golden, tear-filled eyes.

* * *

A/N: So this story has been rattling around in my head for a few months now and I'm going to try to slowly get it written out. Unfortunately for me I discovered after starting this story that Vivian Vande Velde has already written a short story with the same name and startlingly similar plot already. Maybe I read the story a long time ago and forgot. Regardless I'll continue on because after reading her story (bought it off Amazon after realizing it might be similar to my own in order to double check), I think my story will be enough different thanks to my attempts to incorporate Skip Beat into it, even if some of the plot elements will be the same. BTW I'm sure you can all guess who the narrator at the start of the story is.

Second I'd like to propose a story challenge. Like Kyoko I love fairytales, however unlike Kyoko I like it for the oftentimes dark themes and realize that a lot of the plot elements in fairytales makes no sense (like in Rumpelstiltskin, why is he a bad guy?). I also love reading fairytale retellings with Robin McKinley being one of my favorite authors. So I'd like to propose the **Kyoko's Fairytale Challenge**.

Rules:

1) Take a classic fairytale and adapt it for Skip Beat.

2) Because it's **Kyoko's** Fairytale Challenge, there must be at least one of these three: a fairy, a prince, or a princess

3) Main pairing should be Ren/Kyoko (because I really can't read any other pairing).

4) Must start with Once upon a time...or A long, long time ago...and end with happily ever after.


	2. Chapter 2

**Straw Into Gold**

Disclaimer: Most of the characters are not mine, some of the plot isn't either. Many things borrowed gratuitously from folklore.

**A/N: **The first part of this chapter is in more storytelling narrative format because I wanted to give a sort of history and give a general idea of the world.

* * *

One of the kingdoms neighboring and allied to the Fairy Kingdom ruled by the Hizuri, was the Elven Kingdom. The Elven Kingdom was ruled by a wise but eccentric king that enjoyed dressing up in elaborate costumes. Lori Takarada was a charismatic man that had been ruling his kingdom for centuries, but in his youth he liked to wander the human lands. When he finally settled down to rule his kingdom after his father's death he wanted to continue having the feel of visiting the exotic lands and thus constantly had his court dress up in the garb of those lands. After he became king he married a beautiful, kind, but spirited young Elven healer and the two were very happy together until she died to one of the rare magical diseases that was actually fatal to their kind. Kimi Takarada lived up to her name and was serious about her calling. Even after she became queen she continued in her work as a healer. She only stopped briefly after her son Kouki was born sometime about fifty years into her marriage to King Lori only in order to care for her new son. Once Kouki reached adulthood Kimi was back to her duties as a healer traveling to areas that were affected by widespread disease.

Kimi Takarada loved her people and saw her duty as a healer as more important than her duty as a queen even. She was also a very gifted healer and could heal many wounds that other healers would have given up on. The people of her kingdom adored their kind queen as much as her husband and son did. It was about a hundred years into Lori and Kimi's marriage that a epidemic of Pixie Pox had spread through the rural eastern edge of the Elven Kingdom. The strain that was sweeping the area seemed to be especially virulent and many children had succumbed to the deadly disease.

Although her husband and son urged her against going to treat such a dangerous disease and instead allow the royal physicians (who also urged the queen against going) to handle the problem, Kimi was adamant. Pixie Pox was one of the few diseases that was deadly for magical beings, although it tended to only kill those with a weak or not fully developed immune system so the most common victims of the disease were children. Not being able to stand the thought of so many children suffering, Kimi went to the stricken province and worked tirelessly alongside the royal physicians also dispatched. Unfortunately for the Takaradas, the queen neglected her own health and ignored signs she herself was getting sick and continued working through her fatigue wearing down her own immune system until it was too late. The epidemic had been stymied and many Elven children's lives were saved but at the cost of the life of the Elven queen.

The kingdom mourned for its Queen but life moved on. The Elven King though was heartbroken. He diligently threw all his energy into running and caring for his kingdom and his son. After the year of mourning was over, his advisers tried to encourage him to remarry but King Lori emphatically refused stating, "I have an heir. I have no need to remarry. My heart will not allow me to marry another. Kimi was my one true love."

True love is one of the most important things to the Seelie Court, thus Lori's advisers left off and instead began focusing their energies on getting Prince Kouki married instead. Poor Prince Kouki had numerous beautiful women thrown at him, hoping to entice him into marriage. However the Prince only looked at them with apathy, preferring to learn about his kingdom instead. Eventually tired of the pressure to marry, Prince Kouki begged his father to send him away. King Lori thus sent the Prince to the Merrow Kingdom as a diplomat.

In The Merrow Kingdom, Prince Kouki met and fell in love with the youngest daughter of the Merrow Queen. She was a beautiful woman with long curly golden hair with a hint of greenish highlights, big beautiful sea-green eyes, and coral lips. She was her mother's and her sisters' pride and joy. Through diligent and heartfelt effort, Kouki managed to prevail over Princess Lina's other suitors and win her hand and the approval of her family. The two were very happy together and lived in the Merrow Kingdom only occasionally making trips to the the Elven Kingdom to visit King Lori who was always happy to welcome home his son and daughter-in-law.

Through the marriage of Kouki and Lina, the Merrow joined in an alliance with the Elves and the Fairies who had long stood as allies to one another. This alliance allowed for all three kingdoms to feel a great sense of security and prosperity as that only left two hostile kingdoms of the Seven Kingdoms of the Magical Realm. The Trolls and the Orcs were an unpleasant lot that were distrustful of everyone else but unless angered the Trolls tended to keep to themselves. The Orcs tended to be more aggressive and expansive but the other kingdoms tended to band together against whoever they attacked to keep them in check. The Dwarves were a friendly race that liked to interact and trade with all the kingdoms and all the various magical races and species that dwelled in the magical realm. The mysterious Kitsune did not like nor dislike anyone and chose ignore the other kingdoms existed and isolated themselves and could do so easily since their kingdom was on a large island. Their only neighbors were the Merrow with their kingdom in the sea.

Stability was maintained in the Magical Realm for many years and Kouki and Lina were happy living together in the Merrow Kingdom. They did not have any children but it was normal and they were both young. Eventually Lina did give birth to a baby girl. The girl child was sweet and adorable. She had silky midnight black hair (like her father), large pretty golden eyes framed by long dark lashes (like her fraternal grandmother), and coral lips (like her mother). Both Lina and Kouki adored their new daughter and both the Merrow and Elven Kingdoms celebrated her birth.

After Princess Kyoko's birth, King Lori begged his son and daughter-in-law to move to the Elven Kingdom and live with him. As much as the Elven King loved his kingdom he missed his family and he desperately wanted his new granddaughter near him so he could spoil his little princess silly. Her bright golden eyes reminded him so much of his deceased wife and he could already tell she would be as sweet and spirited. Lori made all sorts of plans to dote on her imagining how adorable she would look in the various costumes he would have the tailors create for her.

Kouki and Lina eventually gave into Lori's ridiculous begging when he threatened to have Kyoko kidnapped and brought to him to raise. Afraid of what type of damage his father could do to his sweet impressionable little princess, Kouki decided it was better to at least be on hand to reign in Lori's more outrageous ideas. So a bit before Princess Kyoko's second birthday, Prince Kouki and Princess Lina traveled to the Elven capital to make their home there.

Lori was so ecstatic at the news that he decided to throw a huge celebration in honor of his granddaughter's birthday. He invited all the monarchs of the Seven Kingdoms of the Magical Realm and their guests to attend the Yuletide celebrations in his kingdom and to stay for Princess Kyoko's birthday celebrations. He did not want to insult any of them by not inviting them even if they were not on the friendliest terms with all the kingdoms. The invitations extended requested the guest to stay until Imbolc. News of the celebrations spread across the Seven Kingdoms and all the noblemen and courtiers hoped to be included in their regents retinue. The celebrations for Princess Kyoko's birthday and homecoming were to be the grandest, most spectacular display likely seen in centuries. King Lori adored his granddaughter and possible future heir. Even the celebrations for Prince Kouki's birth could not compare, because to King Lori girls were so much prettier and more loveable than boys and his little princess was the cutest, sweetest, most adorable little girl ever.

Lori expected many of the monarchs to refuse the invitation but was pleasantly surprised when all but the Kitsune and Orc monarchs replied positively and agreed to stay at least for Kyoko's birthday celebration though the Merrow Queen stated she had to return to her kingdom after her granddaughter's birthday.

* * *

_In The Fairy Kingdom_

"Kuu! I just got a letter from Lori! He's inviting us to come visit for Yuletide and stay over the winter until Imbolc. " Juliena Hizuri shouted excitedly as she threw open the door to her husband's study.

"Well that's nice of him but I can't leave our kingdom unattended that long honey. We'll have to send him our regrets." Kuu told his wife gently.

Juli glared balefully at her husband before informing him, "Too late. I already sent our acceptance to attend the celebrations."

"But honey..."

Affecting pitiful tear-filled eyes, Juli pouted at Kuu, "Sweetie...Lina and Kouki have moved back to the Elven Kingdom and they brought their daughter with them. I haven't seen Lina in forever and I'll die if I don't get to see little Kyoko! I'm sure she's absolutely adorable and though Kuon is all I could ask for in a son, I've always wanted a little girl!"

"Juli, honey...maybe we can go for Yuletide but we can't stay until Imbolc. It's just not practical. I can't leave for that long."

"Pish posh! The council can rule just fine while we're gone and if there is an emergency they can get you a message instantly and you can transport yourself back here instantly with your magic. I'm going with or without you and I'm bringing Kuon with me! You can stay here if you are determined to be such a hermit."

Sighing in defeat because Kuu knew he could never deny his beloved anything she truly desired he acquiesced with a , "Yes, you're absolutely right dear."

Grinning triumphantly Juli exited her husband's study to allow him to plan for their absence. She had more important things to do such as creating gifts for the little princess. Calling for a servant she ordered for her and her family's trunks to be packed for an extended stay in the Elven Kingdom. Once the chore was taken care of Juli set out in search of her son to tell him the news. She found him with his tutor and attendant, Yukihito Yashiro.

"Kuon!" Juli cried giving her son a crushing hug. "No need to study right now! We have more important things to do!"

Five-year-old (soon to be six) Kuon Hizuri looked at his mother with confusion and managed a startled, "Wha?" before he was unceremoniously dragged by his mother into her workroom.

"I need your help creating a gift for Princess Kyoko of the Elven Kingdom." Juli explained to him.

"Umm...mom...I have no clue what to give a little princess." Kuon informed his mother hesitantly.

"That's alright dear. I already know what I'm going to give her. I'm going to make her a necklace, you just need to pick out a stone to go into the pendant." Juli told Kuon as examined various precious metals trying to decide on what to use. She peeked at her son out of the corner of her eyes as he carefully examined the colorful magical stones she scattered onto her work table. Although her son did not know it, Juli knew Kuon had an instinctual grasp of what stone held the most magical power. He could sense magic more accurately than even she could so she knew whatever he chose would be the most appropriate for her purposes.

"This one." Kuon declared holding up a pink teardrop shaped gem. "I think the little princess would like this. All little girls like pink and this gem is very pretty. It shines more than the others."

"It's perfect! Thank you Kuon." Juli grinned at her son before giving him a kiss on his forehead. "You can go play now if you want. I need to get this done before the end of the week. We'll be leaving for the Elven Kingdom then."

"The Elven Kingdom?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. We'll be going to the Elven Kingdom for Yuletide and Princess Kyoko's birthday celebrations. We're staying there until Imbolc. Maybe while we're there you and the princess could become friends."

Kuon grimaced at the thought of becoming friends with a little princess. If she was anything like the daughters of nobles then she would be spoiled and annoying. Juli caught her son's expression and chuckled to herself. While her son may be against the idea right now, she was sure that when he and Princess Kyoko were older he would change his mind if the Princess grew up to be even half as beautiful as her mother or grandmothers.

* * *

Kuon was officially bored out of his mind. They had just arrived at the Elven court after a day and a half of travel and Kuon wanted to run around outside and exercise his legs. His mother refused to let him ride with his father and the other men traveling with them and instead made him sit in the carriage with her. Kuon comforted himself with the fact that at least the court ladies that were part of their retinue were riding in other carriages. He did not know if he could stand to be around their annoying chatter trapped in a carriage that long.

After they changed, courtesy demanded that they greet their hosts so Kuon and his parents made their way to the throne room. Upon entering the room, the young fairy prince stopped and starred. Before him on a throne sat a handsome middle-aged man dressed in colorful robes unlike anything Kuon had ever seen before. Milling around the room were courtiers dressed similarly though less extravagantly as the man. Kuon could only assume the man on the throne was King Lori.

Seeing the newcomers, Lori rose out of seat and greeted them exuberantly. "Kuu! Juli! It's so wonderful to see you my friends! This good-looking young man must be your son Kuon. I haven't seen him since he was no bigger than my precious Kyoko."

"Lori! You haven't changed a bit! Still playing dress-up!" Juli exclaimed.

"Sadly, father still has not outgrown that habit." A serious male voice informed her. Looking for the source of the voice, Kuon was relieved to see a man a bit younger than his father dressed in normal clothes. Standing next to him was a woman that was as almost as beautiful as his mother. She smiled kindly at him before turning her sea-green eyes to his mother.

"Juli!" The beautiful woman squealed rushing to give Kuon's mother a hug.

"Lina! It's so wonderful to see you and Kouki again! Where is your daughter, Kyoko? I came all the way here especially to meet her you know." Juli asked.

"Her nurse took her to get her nap about thirty minutes ago." Lina replied.

Kuon sighed. Great! He was now stuck here with the adults and the little girl they were here to meet wasn't even there to see them. He stood patiently by his parents as the adults chatted and caught up. His one consolation was at least none of the adults treated him like he normally saw children being treated as if they could not understand anything. His father finally noticed Kuon's restlessness and suggested, "Kuon why don't you go explore the castle. You look like you need to be outdoors son. Just don't leave the castle grounds and stray into the city."

With a bright grin and a courteous bow, Kuon left the throne room and started wandering the hallways of the castle. Finding a castle guard, he asked to be pointed to the nearest exit to the castle. The guard gave him a few instructions before Kuon walked off again after thanking the man. He eventually found himself in the formal flower gardens but a bit beyond it he could spot some open space. Looking around to make sure there was no one around he took off running, enjoying the feel of the air rushing past his body. He felt a tugging at his hair as he ran and decided to follow the tugging knowing that it was likely invisible sylphs urging him in a specific direction.

He stopped suddenly when he heard sweet joyful laughter ring out. Trying to trace the sound he walked in the direction he thought it came from. After a few moments he found himself in the open area he was searching for earlier. It was a pretty clearing that Kuon was sure would be full of wildflowers during spring or summer but at the moment had tall golden grass with some woods bordering one side of it. Further away he could see a pretty stream winding its way from the woods.

The musical laughter sounded again and he saw a little girl no more than a few years old playing with a couple of puppies. The girl was bundled up in a thick winter cloak that reached to her ankles causing her to occasionally trip whenever she tried to run. Kuon walked quietly forward so as to not startle the little girl. As he got closer he saw her cheeks had a rosy flush to them either from the cold or her exertions or possibly both. Midnight black hair in pigtails peeked out from beneath the hood of her cloak and bright golden eyes glowing with joy and laughter watched the puppies tumbling around her. Her small pixie face lit up with an entrancing smile that caused Kuon to stop in his tracks as he felt his heart skip a beat. She was the prettiest little girl Kuon had ever seen and Kuon couldn't take his eyes off her as she played with the puppies.

Suddenly one of the puppies, all of which were more than half her size, lost it's balance and took a tumble into the little girl. Caught off guard the girl stumbled and fell to the ground hard. It was cold in the Elven Kingdom at this time of the year but it was not cold enough yet for there to be snow on the ground to cushion the little girl's fall. Kuon ran forward to try to help the child although he knew he couldn't get there fast enough to stop her fall. He saw her looking at her hands and heard a soft sniffle and watched helplessly as tears filled the pretty golden eyes. Gently so as not to frighten the already distressed child he asked, "What's wrong little one?"

* * *

**A/N: **I think I'll stop there for now, I had planned to get us to the point of where chapter one left off but focused on Kyoko. My imagination ran away with me as to her back-story and this chapter would be likely twice as long if I got us up to that point. Kyoko's history is set up the way it is because I wanted to make sure all those lovely side characters made there way into this story. Chapter one was more of an introduction. This chapter is where the story actually starts but we'll find ourselves back to that point probably at the end of next chapter.

Thank you to everyone that read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. It makes me feel good to start writing again to know that people like my story. Also I am VERY happy to see several people interested in taking up my challenge. There are just not enough fairytale retellings in this section considering how much Kyoko loves them.

Comments and criticisms are welcomed while flames will likely just amuse me. I probably should find a beta though because self-editing never works that well. I ask rather a lot from a beta though.

Some of the fantasy elements in this story will be made up by me, some will be straight from folklore, and a few things will be from books (though those from books could have come from folklore as well). For example the idea of the fairy border closing at night and for the winter comes from Patricia Wrede's _Snow White and Rose Red_, although the specific dates are my own invention based on convenience and research.

Some terms that might be unfamiliar:

Imbolc: Celtic festival celebrating the beginning of Spring, February 2.

Yuletide: Winter celebrations that often gets lumped in with Christmas, around December 21-23.

Merrow: A race similar to mermaids but can interbreed with humans by shedding their tails.

Sylph: Air spirits


	3. Chapter 3

**Straw Into Gold**

**Disclaimer: **Skip Beat belongs to Nakamura Yoshiki and Hana to Yume.

Fluff alert!

* * *

Someone was tugging at her hair and whispering in her ear to wake-up. Kyoko blearily opened her eyes and rubbed them trying to find who it was. Her mommy had told her it was time for her afternoon nap so her nurse Miss Itsumi had taken her to her room and dressed her in her nightgown. Kyoko was sure she had not napped as long as her mommy wanted her to.

In front of her eyes was a little lady wearing nothing but a few sheer bits of cloth with short white hair and tiny delicate wings. The lady giggled as Kyoko blinked at her. Kyoko was used to seeing little ladies like this but the the ones she usually saw usually had blue hair and tail-fins like her grand-mama. The ones with the tail-fins called themselves undines and told her they were water elementals. They had to of course explain what an elemental was to Kyoko once Kyoko found out not everyone could see them. Her grand-mama could though so Kyoko was happy to have someone to share her friends with. The little lady told Kyoko that she was a an air elemental called a sylph. The sylph was asking Kyoko if she wanted to come play with her.

Kyoko knew that she shouldn't since she was supposed to be napping but the sylph looked so pretty and friendly and Kyoko really wanted to play with her. After a short moment to think about it Kyoko decided it would be okay for her to go play because she did get a nap. The little air elemental told Kyoko it was cold outside so she should put on something warm. Looking around her room, Kyoko didn't think she could put on her dress by herself but she saw her cloak sitting on a chair. She took the cloak and put it on and with the sylph's help tied it close. The sylph pointed at the window and told her that they should leave through it as she floated Kyoko up to open the window. Kyoko did so and the sylph floated the little princess out the window and set her gently on the ground.

When they got outside they were met with several other sylphs that started telling her about the cute puppies that were in the stables and asked Kyoko if she wanted to see them. When Kyoko answered yes, several of them rushed off to pull the puppies to her. The ones still with her tugged at her cloak trying to get her to move towards the gardens. Kyoko did as they asked and when she got to the gardens she met with several little people that had kind faces and were no taller than her knees. These new ones told her they were called gnomes and they were earth elementals. They helped take care of the plants and sometimes they helped the animals to. One of them brought her a pretty flower gave it to a sylph to put in her hair. Kyoko thanked the little elemental happily.

Kyoko happily played with the elementals, chatting and skipping along with them through the garden. Kyoko has just learned how so skip after watching some older girls and was very excited to try it. Unfortunately she wasn't very good at it and her legs got tangled in her long cloak often but the sylphs and gnomes helped her to not get hurt. Finally they led her to a field beyond the garden and there waiting for her were four Labrador retriever puppies eagerly wagging their tails as they waited for their new playmate to reach them. One of the puppies could not contain his excitement and with a joyful bark when he scented her took off at a lumbering run towards Kyoko. Kyoko gave a startled squeak and squeezed her eyes closed as she saw the puppy rush at her. Right before it would barrel into her, the puppy skid to a stop and instead gently head-butted her stomach. Looking down and seeing the puppy giving her large imploring puppy eyes, Kyoko couldn't restrain herself and squealed happily before engulfing the puppy in a hug. The other three puppies jealous of the attention their brother was receiving quickly ran over as well to receive their share of hugs and petting.

Kyoko sat herself down on the ground before they could knock her off her feet and the puppies swarmed her licking and nuzzling at the little princess causing her to laugh from the ticklish sensation their whiskers created on her face. "Puppies need names!" Kyoko decided as she looked them and pointing to each in turn declared, "I know! You'll be Cain, and you can be Cainmaru, and you can be Caingo!" Then she pointed at the golden female pup and told her, "You can be Setsuka!" The puppies yelped with happiness before they took off running, occasionally stopping to wait for Kyoko to catch up to them. Kyoko spent several minutes playing with her new friends as the gnomes and sylphs watched her happily and once in a while a sylph danced around them causing the puppies to go chasing the little air elemental when she tickled the puppies with a leaf. At one such time one of the puppies suddenly lost its balance and tumbled into the back of Kyoko's legs knocking her over. The elementals weren't quick enough to soften her fall or stop it and Kyoko fell to the ground hard.

Kyoko felt a pain in her hand and looked down to see it slightly scratched up and bleeding. It hurt and tears filled her eyes and she started to sniffle, preparing to cry. Usually she cried when she was hurt and someone would come and make it all better. So Kyoko wasn't too surprised when she heard a kind voice asking her, "What's wrong little one?"

When she looked up she saw an older boy leaning down to her with his hand out to help her up. He had pretty green eyes and golden hair. He was one of the most beautiful people Kyoko had ever seen and he looked nice. Looking again at her hand as tears of pain ran down her cheeks, Kyoko sobbed, "I fell down and my hands hurt."

Biting his lip Kuon looked thoughtfully at the little girl. He couldn't grab her hand and help pull her up because it would cause her more pain and pulling her up by her arms seemed rather rough. The child looked so tiny and delicate and so sweet and cute, Kuon couldn't stand the thought of hurting her even accidentally. So he knelt down next to her and gently asked her, "May I see your hand?"

She held one hand out to him and he took it in his carefully and looked at it. It was scrapped and bleeding slightly but it did not look like a serious wound though Kuon figured it probably hurt a lot for such a small child. Remembering the stream he saw earlier, he told the child to sit there and wait for him a moment.

Kyoko looked at the nice older boy and asked him pleadingly, "Promise?"

Kuon's heart melted as he looked at the little girl. She was cuter than the puppies that had gathered around her whining softly with worry. "Aah." He replied in the affirmative before he took off towards the stream to wet a handkerchief to clean the blood and dirt off the girl's hands.

As soon as the boy left, one of the gnomes came up to Kyoko and brought her a few leaves. "Here little lady. You just break some of these leaves apart and put it on those nasty little cuts and it'll help get them right better, it will." Looking at the hands that were barely bigger than his own the gnome reconsidered and told Kyoko, "Better yet, get that boy to put it on for you."

"I will. Thank you." Kyoko told the gnome tearfully.

Kuon came back from the stream and noticed the child looking a some herbs that had not been there before. "What are those little one?"

Still sniffling slightly from the pain in her hands, Kyoko answered, "The gnome gave me. Told me put where hurt is and it get better. Can you help?"

Kuon looked at the girl startled. Not many people could see and talk to elementals and most that could, could only do so with one type. Kuon could talk with the air elementals but could not see them. He could sense the presence of the other types but couldn't interact with them. The little girl obviously could interact with the earth and air elementals, which was very rare to be able to interact with more than one type. Earth elementals especially were known to be very reclusive and not like to interact with anything but plants, animals, and sometimes other elementals, but they were apparently fond enough of the child to offer her help.

Sitting down next to the girl Kuon took her hand and cleaned the blood and dirt off them. Unfortunately he didn't have anything to wrap her hand up with since he used his handkerchief to clean her wounds and then cleaned the herbs. He was about to ask her if she had one on her when he noticed for the first time that she was wearing nothing underneath her cloak except a nightdress. Sighing in resignation he tore two strips of cloth from the sleeves of his shirt and then took the herbs and pressed them onto the little hands and then bound them in the strips securely but gently. Then taking each of the little girl's hands he kissed them telling her, "Pain, pain, go away! There they'll be all better soon," like his mother used to do for him.

"Thank you!" Kyoko beamed happily her pain forgotten. Carefully she began to stand up. "Aah! I'm Kyoko, what's your name?" The girl exclaimed suddenly remembering her manners now that her hand was better as she attempted a curtsey. It was cute but very clumsy still.

_So this little girl was Princess Kyoko_, Kuon thought with some surprise. The thought of being friends with her like his mother suggested didn't seem so stupid. She didn't seem at all like the other girls Kuon had met only interested in their dolls and dresses. She was so cheerful and cute and if she sneaked out of her room when he knew she should have been taking a nap in only her nightdress she must not be too interested in dresses. Looking at her again he noticed her smile fell a bit as she looked at him with worried eyes and Kuon realized he hadn't answered her question. Quickly he told her, "Kuon, my name is Kuon."

"Corn?" Kyoko asked cutely tilting her head and looking at him with inquisitive golden eyes.

Kuon blinked in surprise at the little girl's cute mispronunciation of his name before he started laughing. He stopped when he noticed the pout on her round face. Smiling gently he just nodded his head. It wouldn't hurt him to let her call him Corn. "Close enough," he told her.

"Corn, will you be my friend?" Kyoko looked up at him sweetly. "No one wants to be friends with Kyoko here. They say I'm weird to talk to the ementals. Its okay at home cuz grand-mama could talk to them too."

"You mean the elementals?" Kuon asked her and the girl nodded. "Not many people can talk to them. That just makes you special, not weird. I can't see them but I can talk to the sylphs too."

"You can?" Kyoko asked him, perking up instantly that someone else can talk to her friends.

"Yes but only the sylphs, my dad can too. I can't talk to the gnomes like you. You should thank the gnome for the herbs." Kuon told her trying to mind his manners.

"I have! Mama and papa say to always thank people that help you." Kyoko told him seriously.

"That's good, but we should go back to the castle now. Your mama and papa will be worried if they see you're gone." Kuon suggested.

"Can we stay a little longer?" Kyoko pleaded.

Looking at her adorable face, Kuon felt he couldn't refuse her request. Plus Kuon had been so worried taking care of her injured hands that he hadn't had time to enjoy himself either. He wanted to play with the puppies too! So with only a slight bit of hesitation he agreed.

Kyoko cheered happily before springing to her feet and rushing off with three puppies following in her wake. Kuon looked down to find the female puppy had not followed her but was instead tugging at his pants encouraging him to follow her brothers. Kuon grinned before taking off running after the cute quartet in front of him laughing as he watched their antics.

Kuon and Kyoko spent what Kuon figured to be around thirty minutes playing various games with the puppies before Kuon noticed Kyoko's energy staring to wane. "Little one, let's take a break." Kuon suggested before pointing to a tree nearby they could lean against. Kyoko nodded to his suggestion but as soon as both of them sat down the little girl toppled over onto Kuon's lap in a deep sleep. Chuckling while he petted the little girl's head Kuon figured it couldn't be helped. She was still very little and she had skipped out on her nap. He would probably have to carry his little friend back to the castle soon but for now he would just relax here. The puppies arrayed themselves around the two children providing warmth and company until soon all of them fell asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile inside the castle, a frantic search was taking place. Itsumi Momose was a seventeen year old elf girl that had recently started working at the castle. The Elven King had found Itsumi at an orphanage in the city taking care of the children there and immediately hired her. He said he liked how she took care of the children and by going to work in the castle she could be a source of futures for her current charges, by being able to help them get jobs there in the future. Besides the generous wages the king was offering could also be sent to help further support the orphanage. There were not many orphans among the magical folk but that did not mean there were none, and while the king did generously fund and support the orphanage, the money never stretched far enough for treats for the children.

Itsumi could only wonder what her job would be in the castle. She thought that she was being brought on as a maid of some sort and she was correct, just not on what type of maid. When she got to the castle she was shown to a suite of rooms decorated for a princess and told she would be the the new nursemaid for the almost two year old Elven princess that would be arriving soon. Apparently the princess's old nursemaid did not want to leave her home in the Merrow Kingdom leaving the king searching for a new one before his granddaughter's arrival.

Itsumi had fully been prepared to meet a spoiled child seeing as how the child was the granddaughter of the Merrow Queen as well as the Elven King and Itsumi had seen enough children of the wealthy or nobility in the city to know how they generally acted. They were spoiled, willful, and used to getting whatever they wanted and their poor nursemaids got the blame for anything that they did. Itsumi was scared of failing in her job because of how much this job could help her former home. It was with great shock that Itsumi met a well mannered, sweet, and absolutely adorable toddler that was introduced to her as her new charge, Princess Kyoko. It wasn't that the child was without any of the mischief and mayhem that all toddlers engaged in, because in the week she was there she got into plenty of trouble. But the girl was properly repentant once she knew she did something bad and she had the sweetest temper, rarely getting angry at least on her own behalf. Even when Itsumi saw some older noble's children teasing the little girl she seemed sad but didn't throw a temper tantrum or threaten them with her rank, but when the little girl saw those same kids picking on a maid she immediately ran to the poor girl's defense. It was certainly amusing to watch the little cherub defending someone much older and bigger than her from kids that were also older and bigger than her. Despite her age and stature, Itsumi could swear the child actually managed to look regally menacing.

Princess Kyoko was always properly respectful and usually did as she was told so Itsumi was in a panic when she entered the princess's chambers to check on her to find the little girl gone. The window to her room was open though Itsumi knew that she would not have left it open on such a cold day and the little princess's cloak was missing. Itsumi ran to the window looking out, fearful of seeing the child's broken body below and sighed with relief to see nothing on the ground. Unfortunately that left only one other possibility in the young woman's mind and that was that the princess had been kidnapped. She rushed to the throne room. Not wanting to cause a panic she found the princess's mother talking with another stunning woman and approached them.

"Your highness, may I speak with you?" Itsumi requested glancing nervously at the other woman.

"Miss Itsumi, whatever is wrong?" Lina asked. Itsumi shifted her eyes to Juli and Lina correctly guessed the that whatever the young woman wanted to say she wanted to say in private. "It's alright. Queen Juliena is a good friend and discrete."

With one more nervous look at the two royals Itsumi whispered softly, "Princess Kyoko is gone, Your Highness. I went to check on her just now and she wasn't in her room and her window was open." Itsumi cringed expecting the princess to yell at her for neglect of her charge but Lina just sighed.

"I was afraid she'd do something like this soon. I'm sorry I should have warned you. Kyoko tends to sneak off if her friends ask her to though I didn't expect she'd find any around here." Lina said as her eyes searched for her husband and father-in-law. "She's probably somewhere on the palace grounds still."

"Your Highness doesn't think the little princess has been kidnapped?" Itsumi asked hopefully. "I found the window to her room open and I don't know how she could have gotten it open, out it, and down to the ground on her own. There was nothing around the window for her to climb onto to even reach it."

Lina's beautiful face took on a thoughtful look before smiling gently at the frightened nursemaid. "No. I'm sure she just meet some new friends that wanted to play with her and they helped her get down. Let me get my husband to start a search for the naughty girl to be sure." At the confused look on Itsumi's face Lina explained. "When we were in the Merrow Kingdom, Kyoko had always been able to see and talk to the water elementals. The undines adored her and would do anything she asked. Unfortunately they also tended to get her in trouble sneaking out to play with them. It seems Kyoko can see and talk with the air elementals as well."

Itsumi looked at the Merrow Princess with some skepticism. "I have heard some could talk to the elementals but I always thought it was really rare. Can Princess Kyoko really see and talk to them? Though if she can, it would explain when she seems to talk to the air. The older children tease her for it."

Lina sighed, "My poor little girl. Yes she can, she always has been able to, though we wouldn't have known about it if my mother couldn't also see and talk to the water elementals. I suspect Kyoko might be able to interact with all types of elementals despite as rare as that talent is. And she got teased at home for it often enough until my mother put a stop to it."

"Kouki is over there with Kuu and Lori. They can organize a search." Juli suggested pointing to the throne at the front of the room. The three ladies headed over to the males and explained the situation to them. Kouki looked exasperated but resigned to his daughter's antics but Lori never having heard about Kyoko's propensity to sneak out to play with her elemental friends before merely looked amused. The men quickly organized a search for the toddler with the various palace servants and guards. They split up into five groups with a royal with each group to help facilitate communication.

Kuu Hizuri was a bit bewildered how he and his wife had managed to go from catching up with their friends and about to go enjoy a nice tea where he was anticipating enjoying at least ten portions of the Elven kitchen's efforts to assuage his hunger until supper in a few hours to now expending all his energy looking for a little girl. He wasn't sure how a two-year-old girl managed to sneak around the castle undetected, but despite the seeming amusement the girl's parents had towards her disappearance there was real parental concern as well. Even if the child was fine as they suspected, she was still missing and unattended.

* * *

Kuu's stomach growled loudly at him for the fifth time in as many minutes and he caught the amused looks of the palace guards and servants he was leading on the search and pouted. It was so undignified. He knew his bottomless stomach was legendary throughout the Magical Realm but people didn't need to be so amused by his suffering. At least he got to be the one to search outside the palace. If he was lucky maybe he could find his adorable son and spend part of the search with him. They had just finished combing the formal flower gardens calling out for the missing princess when Kuu spotted a shining blonde head sitting beneath a tree. Kuu grinned as he knew only two people that had such bright hair and was about to call out when the air sylphs whispered in his ear telling him that he should approach quietly instead.

Following their advice and instead intending on ambushing his son he crept quietly to within a few yards of the tree disappointed that his usually alert son hadn't caught him yet. He stopped short however when he saw the scene before him. Kuon was fast asleep leaning against the tree with a small body cuddled in his lap and several furry bodies arrayed around them. It seems he found the missing princess. Kuu laughed softly to himself and was about to wake the boy and scold him for falling asleep outside when it was so cold when he finally noticed it and nearly fell over in shock.

He wasn't good with spotting things like this but he knew Lori and Juli were. After getting affirmation from the guards that the little girl in his son's lap was indeed Princess Kyoko, Kuu mentally called out to the other royals to come to him and dismiss the search. Dismissing the search party members that he lead he cast a quick spell to warm the air around the children. They looked to be dressed warmly enough and with the body heat the puppies were likely giving off they were probably fine but it never hurt to be cautious. He didn't want his wonderful child to get sick.

Lori, Juli, Lina, and Kouki soon arrived. They looked at Kuu with questions in their eyes. He just shook his head and motioned to the children. The adults complied and looked at them and as one gasped. To those that could see magic clearly the children glowed softly, but to those like Lori and Juli who were especially good at spotting such things the children didn't glow they shined with an intense brilliant light. The magic around the children was so thick as to seem palpable. Their magic pulsed and intertwined with each other in a way that left no doubt in Lori and Juliena's mind that those two were soul-mates

"No~!" Lori exclaimed, pointing a finger at Kuu he stated forcefully, "Your son can't have my sweet Kyoko!"

Juli looked at Lori shocked, "You can't mean that! They're tied to each other. Aren't you the one always espousing true love?"

"But...I just convinced Kouki to bring her back here. I refuse to let her go already!" Lori whined pathetically.

"Dad...Kyoko is just two. She's not going anywhere for a long time yet." Kouki shook his head at his father though he was a bit disturbed to find his daughter was already tied by fate to someone. It just seemed so early. It took him nearly a hundred years to find his destined match.

Lori brightened at that reminder, "That's right! Kuon can have Kyoko when she turns one-hundred-years old! After all Kouki didn't get married until he was around a hundred." Kouki nodded his head at that idea. No need for his sweet daughter to rush into marriage. He glared darkly at the boy that would eventually take his princess from him, he would need to make sure to watch that boy and keep him in line. No more sneaking off with his daughter.

Lina sighed at her two idiotically over-protective male relatives. She had no intention of making her little girl wait until she was a hundred to get married to her soul-mate. Kuon was also a good boy and Lina was sure he would care for her daughter. Right now was however the time to deal with the two men. "We can discuss this later. Let's just get the children inside where it's warm."

The others agreed to this as Kouki went over to retrieve his little girl from the boy's lap. When he lifted his daughter off of the boy, Kyoko whimpered softly and tried to cling more tightly to Kuon causing Kouki to glare at the boy again. He gently removed Kyoko's hand from the boy's shirt and cuddled her close to him. Smelling the familiar scent of her father Kyoko sighed happily and snuggled into his warm embrace.

Kuu smiled at the touching scene and decided that he definitely wanted a daughter now even if he had to steal his friend's to get one, or at least get his son to do it for him. Kuu went over and picked up his own slumbering child. When he lifted the boy though he woke up and blinked sleep fogged eyes at his father before asking, "Where's Kyoko?"

"Her father's got her." Kuu reassured his son quietly.

"Oh." Kuon said before falling asleep once more in his father's arms. Kuu chuckled. His son usually acted so much older than his age. It was comforting to be able to hold him like the child he was.

* * *

**A/N: **So I lied though I didn't mean to. I'm just really bad a chapter planning and new scenes kept occurring to me so it might be several more chapters until we actually get into the plot of Rumpelstiltskin.

Some things about the world. The Magical and Human Realms are separated by a border. Within the Magical Realm there are seven main kingdoms that have various magical beasts and beings living in them that are ruled by the king and/or queen of each kingdom. The border to the human realms changes location each year but it always rotates through the various kingdoms in a specific order. Where it appears within the kingdom is random each year but not which kingdom it will appear in.

Magical beings live MUCH longer than humans. They age like humans until they are around twenty and then for the most part they age around one year for every twenty human years. I had originally planned on making Kyoko human but then changed my mind to make her magical instead because I thought it'd be too sad for her to live a normal human life-span and Kuon live around a millenia longer thus I had to make up some reason for all this. I will admit it's contrived but darn it I like happy endings.

I also love character romances that start with them as children and friends that eventually are separated and reunite. There is a lot of stuff with them as children. Yes both Kyoko and Kuon are precocious for their age, but I've met some very smart toddlers before so I hope I haven't made it too unbelievable. I haven't been around kids that young except for a few hours once or twice a year for a long time now. So I can't remember how they talk. Also the characters may be a bit OOC throughout this but I hope not too badly.

Feel free to PM me with questions. I generally have an idea of how the plot will progress and come up with the actual scenes as I write. I have a bad habit though of knowing how I want the story to start and end but have no idea how to fill up the in-between so I get into writer's blocks easily.

A final note: **Please Review! **It is the thought that people enjoy what I write that has me writing and posting. Otherwise I would just keep my ideas in my head. Feedback tells me people are interested enough to say something.


	4. Chapter 4

**Straw Into Gold**

****Disclaimer: Skip Beat is not mine. I get nothing from writing this.

To clarify, Kyoko is around 2 and Kuon is around 6 (just under since his birthday is still a few months off). The two of them do love and care for each other but only as friends at this point because they are really too young for the feeling to go deeper than that. And I REALLY love childhood friendships so expect more chibi-Kyoko and Kuon fluff for a few chapters.

* * *

Kuon woke up to find himself in a soft bed with his father sitting at a nearby table that was full of empty plates that Kuon guessed had contained Kuu's afternoon "snack". Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he tried to remember how he now found himself in bed. Last he could remember was sitting with Princess Kyoko under a tree after she feel asleep on his lap.

"How did I get here?" Kuon asked his father.

"Ahh...you're awake," Kuu commented. "And I carried you here. These will be your rooms while we're here visiting. Your mom's and mine are across the hall. You really shouldn't fall asleep outside at this time of year son. What would I do if my precious child got sick because he was sleeping on the cold hard ground in the middle of winter?"

Kuon rolled his eyes at his father's dramatics before asking, "Is the little princess alright? I was going to carry her back here but I guess I fell asleep."

Kuu absolutely beamed at his son, "Little Kyoko is fine. Her father carried her back to her room which by the way is right next door. She is such an adorable little girl. I heartily approve my son! You have chosen well."

"Huh? Chosen what dad?" Kuon asked confused by his father.

"Ahh...right. Too early. Never mind." Kuu told his son noting that he should try bringing the subject back up in about a decade.

Kuon just shook his head at his father, already used to his strangeness. "How late is it?" Kuon decide to ask instead.

"Just a bit before supper. You might want to bathe and change. We'll be dining with Lori, Kouki, Lina, and Kyoko tonight. Tomorrow will be the big Yuletide supper and you children will be stuck eating in the nursery so we decided that we'll have a family dinner tonight." Kuu informed him.

Kuon pouted and glared at his father indignantly as he protested, "I don't really need another bath. I took one right after we arrived. I'm also too old to dine in the nursery."

"You smell of dogs and dirt son so yes you do need to bathe and I already called for a bath for you." Then grinning mischievously, "If you don't think you can handle bathing by yourself I can call your mother in to help you. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to help you bathe and choose your clothes."

"No I'll bathe by myself." Kuon yelped.

"Good. And as for tomorrow, though I know you're mature enough to sit with the adults, would you really leave the little princess to eat alone?" Kuu frowned at his son seemingly disappointed that he would leave a lady to dine by herself.

"Wouldn't she be eating with the other children?" Kuon asked.

"Hmm...she just arrived here a week ago and hasn't gotten to make friends yet. I also heard the other children don't like her much yet. They think she's too young to play with and I've heard she gets teased a lot." Kuu told his son trying to appeal to the gentlemanly sensibilities that he had been trying to instill in his son since he could walk and talk.

"She did tell me she didn't have any friends. The other children are idiots. Kyoko is special not weird!" Kuon defended his new playmate. He frowned at the thought of the sweet cheerful girl eating by herself for Yuletide. He didn't think much of the noble children if they did pick on the child. Being able to talk to elementals just made her powerful and talented especially if they liked her as much as they seemed to. Kuon had studied enough magic, even though he had only recently started, to know that elemental masters were very powerful. If the elementals liked you they were willing to help you do a lot of things. His ability to talk to the sylphs would allow him one day to fly, a talent not many had. "If I'll be eating with Princess Kyoko then I guess it'll be okay."

"That's my boy!" Kuu exclaimed happily as he got up and left Kuon.

* * *

When Kuon was done bathing and changing into fresh clothing he left his rooms to find both his parents waiting for him. They smiled at him before leading him out of the wing of the castle that they were in and down a flight of stairs. "We'll be using that room over there whenever we dine or meet informally. You and the little princess will be eating in there tomorrow with Miss Itsumi, Princess Kyoko's nurse, or you can choose to dine in one of your rooms'. Thank you for agreeing to eat with her tomorrow." Juli told him before leading the way to the rooms pointed out.

When they entered the doors, Kuon blinked in surprise and turned back around to make sure they had come from inside the castle. A beach scene with pretty trees and flowers that Kuon had never seen before greeted his sight. The Elven King sat at an elaborate table spread with exotic dishes dressed in a skirt that looked like it was made of grass and garlands of flowers in his hair and around his neck. As soon as Lori spotted them he stood up and greeted them with, "Welcome to my Yuletide luau!"

Kuon just stared as his parents laughed. A regal feminine voice came from the table and Kuon looked to see a woman with blue-green hair and aqua eyes wearing an outfit similar to King Lori's saying, "Big dinners and celebrations are celebrated this way in one of the human lands bordering my kingdom and Lori has decided to have Kyoko's first Yuletide dinner celebrated in this manner. I apologize for introducing him to this."

"We've known Lori long enough to be used to this. I wonder if we should change into similar costume." Juli replied grinning. Kuon looked at his mother horrified at the thought of wearing something similar to King Lori's outfit. Juli upon seeing her son's horrified face laughed before saying, "Or maybe not. I don't think Kuon was quite ready for Lori. It is nice to see you again Queen Kai. Will you be staying here long?"

The Merrow Queen smiled gently before replying, "No I'll only be staying long enough to celebrate Kyoko's second birthday. Then I must be back to my kingdom."

"Let me introduce you to my son, Kuon. Kuon, you have of course met King Lori this afternoon. The lady next to Lori is Queen Kai of the Merrow Kingdom and Princess Kyoko's grandmother." Juli stated motioning to Kuon to bow, which he did.

At that moment the door to the room opened again and Kuon had barely turned to see who had just entered when he felt the breath knocked out of him by something colliding with his stomach. Looking down he saw Kyoko looking up at him with an adoring face and amusingly enough dressed in a grass skirt and decked with garlands of flowers as well.

As soon as Kyoko had entered the room she had seen her new friend and rushed over to give him a hug attaching herself to him. Her chubby little arms were wrapped as tightly as she could manage around his waist and her head nuzzled his stomach. With a cry of joy she greeted him, "Corn! You're here! Kyoko happy to see Corn!"

"Corn?" Kuu questioned as he covered his mouth to hide a snicker.

Kuon blushed brightly not sure how to explain the child's error. Looking at her cheerful face he resigned himself to the adults knowing of his odd nickname since he couldn't bring himself to correct her. She sounded and looked too cute and he half hoped and half dreaded that she would grow out of it. He instead opted to glare at his father before shrugging haplessly.

"Kyoko. Your manners." Queen Kai admonished her granddaughter. She smiled in amusement at the child attached firmly to the boy. Then noticing the glow around the two turned sharp startled eyes to Lori. Lori glared at the boy that had his precious granddaughter's attention to the exclusion of everyone else including himself but upon noticing the Merrow Queen's look discretely nodded his head. Smirking at Lori's pouting visage, Queen Kai returned to instructing Kyoko, "You should introduce yourself to everyone dear."

"Eep." Kyoko exclaimed as she released her friend and blushed cutely noticing everyone else in the room before attempting a clumsy curtsey, "I'm sorry. My name is Kyoko. It's nice to meet you."

It only took Juli a second before she squealed with glee and grabbed the little girl into a hug. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you Kyoko! I'm Kuon's mom, Juli! You must call me Juli-mama!"

A bit surprised by the pretty lady's reaction to her Kyoko asked her sweetly, "You're Corn's mama? Corn! Your mama is very pretty!"

"Ahh...I can't wait to play with you little Kyoko! Lina she's adorable. I'm so jealous! My Kuon is a wonderful boy but I've always wanted a daughter. We can share Kyoko, right? I have so many dresses I made for her to wear. Kuon won't let me dress him in dresses." Juli pouted as Kuon rolled his eyes at his mother's last comment.

Kuu laughed at his wife's antics before going over to introduce himself. "Hello Kyoko. My name is Kuu and I'm Kuon's papa. Why don't you call me Kuu-papa."

Kuon looked at his parents in confusion. He wondered why they were telling Kyoko to call them mama and papa. He could only assume they wanted Kyoko to be part of their family, but Kyoko already had her own mama and papa. Not that he would mind Kyoko being part of his family; she would make a cute little sister. She was cute and nice and he already felt very protective of her.

"You can't have her yet you two. She's still MY little princess," Kouki declared jealously. Kuu pouted at him but figured it was alright because Kyoko would eventually become his daughter-in-law.

Lina laughed at all the idiotic adults trying to claim her little girl and decided to stop them before they got too far in their rivalry over the little girl's attention. "Why don't we eat. There is plenty of time for everything else. Kyoko and Kuon would you like to sit together?" When both nodded eagerly Lina took her daughter back from Juli and carried her to a chair created to be higher than the others so the child could see the table. Lina motioned for Kuon to sit on one side of the chair and took the one of the other side of it. The rest of the company filled out the table around them.

Supper was delicious and enjoyable. The adults questioned the two children on what they were doing outside and everyone smiled at Kyoko's enthusiastic description of her afternoon with her new friends. More laughter was had when Kyoko noticed how little Kuon ate and started scolding the older boy on how he needs to eat to grow up strong and healthy causing Kuon to get flustered at being scolded by someone so much younger than him. Juli agreed with the little girl energetically and started force-feeding Kuon, only to start pouting when Kyoko yelled at her in alarm to stop. "Juli-mama! You're going to kill Corn. He's turning blue!"

Kuon threw a thankful look to the little girl. While the food was delicious, unlike his mother's cooking that she had tried to force-feed him before, he just could not eat that much especially at the rate she forced it into his mouth. Maybe they could compromise on how much he ate.

* * *

It was a couple hours after dinner was finished that the two children were put to bed for the night knowing they both had long days and the next day would be busy and just as eventful. The adults were gathered in Lori's private sitting room all with serious expressions on their faces.

"What are we going to do about the children?" Kuu asked as he enjoyed a cup of wine.

"Do we need to do anything about them yet? They are still children. Maybe we're mistaken and they will grow out of whatever it is." Kouki suggested.

Lori shook his head, "No, I know what I saw. It's unmistakable, they are soul mates. What bothers me is that these connections don't usually manifest this young. Youngest I've ever heard of them forming is after both sides have at least reached puberty."

"Politically it is a great match. It further fortifies the long-standing alliance between the Elven and Fairy Kingdom. With Kyoko being of the Merrow Kingdom's royal family as well that makes the Seelie Court's alliance firmer." Queen Kai thoughtfully pointed out.

"It's a strong connection. I know my son and I can already tell he adores Kyoko. He's a kind boy but I've never seen him so gentle and sweet to anyone before. If I had my guess their connection formed as soon as they met. The more time they spend together it'll only get stronger. Their magic is already working to connect them. We might as well just go ahead and form an engagement now. They will naturally become more attracted to each other." Juliena told them.

"Kuon will be more powerful than I am once he grows up and Kyoko will probably be just as magically powerful if she can already interact with at least three of the four elemental types. Protecting them from mercenary alliances in the future might not be a bad idea." Kuu thoughtfully added.

"Yes, but is it a good idea restrict them to each other through a marriage contract so young?" Lina questioned. "They are young and need to grow and form bonds with others even if they will eventually be life-bonded."

"We could just make it an informal engagement that either are free to break once they come of age." Juli suggested. "That way if we are wrong about the bond, they are not confined in their choice. Also we don't need to tell them about it until they are older and can understand."

Lori sighed tiredly, "As much as I don't want to lose Kyoko anytime soon to your son, an informal engagement might be needed. The Troll King and Queen accepting our invitation unnerves me. I sent the invitations to all the magical kingdoms but I never expected the trolls to accept. We have not been on bad terms with them, but we have NEVER been on friendly terms with them either. They are Unseelie, and follow a different code of rules and morals than we do. I can't help but thank they want something specific from coming here and I think it might involve Kyoko."

Kouki looked at his father in alarm, "Do you think they will push for an engagement with Kyoko?"

Lori shrugged, "Who knows? Politically it makes sense. If we agree to it Kyoko will be trapped in a marriage to someone she will likely not be able to love and the trolls will hold leverage against the Merrow and Elven kingdoms. If we refuse them without good cause then they can claim insult and cause trouble. It may be they are looking to start a war for some reason or hoping to claim indemnity for the insult."

"Would an informal marriage arrangement be enough to put them off?" Kuu asked worriedly.

"Probably not. They would just consider it us trying to deny them a rightful marriage arrangement and claim insult." Kai confirmed, "We would have to create a magically binding marriage contract, but create enough loopholes that the children will still have the option of choosing their fate once they are grown."

Looking to his daughter-in-law and son he asked them, "She is your daughter. What do you think?" Lina and Kouki reluctantly agreed to the idea. Lori then turned to Kuu and Juli, "Are you two okay with this as well? Kuon is the crown prince and will one day become the Fairy King. Kyoko may one day become the Elven Queen if Kouki and Lina don't give birth to a son and that would unite the two kingdoms. Kyoko is also far down in the Merrow inheritance but it is not impossible for her to become Merrow Queen as well. The Merrow monarchy is passed down through the female line after all. It's rather world changing if those two get married."

The Fairy King and queen looked at each other communicating purely through their eyes and as one nodded. "You may be worried about protecting Kyoko now, but we want to protect Kuon against mercenary young ladies in the future and this would be a good way to do so. Kuon will probably be grateful for this way to keep the ladies that only want to be Fairy Queen off of him." Kuu agreed. "None of those types of girls are good enough for my brilliant, kind, beautiful son."

Having agreed on a course of action the monarchs spent several more hours that evening working out a flexible marriage contract that would still protect their children from other unwanted marriages. They placed their magic into the contracts before signing it and binding it with magical oaths to secure it. Having done all they could, they retired to bed, spent but satisfied to rest for a busy next day.

* * *

**A/N**: Shorter than planned but figured a short update is better than no update. I'm starting to lose steam on this story and figured writing what I can when I feel like it is better than writing nothing.

On another note, I've been listening to a lot of Vocaloid songs a covers from Nico Nico singers lately and greatly enjoying them so don't be surprised if I recommend some of the songs as themes for future chapters. If you know Vocaloids, does Kagamine Len remind anyone else of fourteen-year-old Kuon?

Again, **PLEASE REVIEW! **I really don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive and not flames and I do consider all feedback whether or not I decide to do something with it.


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